Downhill All the Way (Almost)

Susan, a Canadian friend from Izhcayluma, invited me to go on a bike tour with her.  Ellen was delighted to have me gone, and was signed up for a massage, writing, and e-mailing.

The ride was promised to be downhill all the way, with a taxi (in these parts they are all pickup trucks) hauling the bikes up the hills.  It sounded perfect.  Our guide was Horland.  We were accompanied by Monica, his Swiss girlfriend.

The bike rack was a foam mattress on the back of the truck bed over which the bikes were placed.

Our initial ride was on a newish highway, only 4 years old.  The roads are, of course, going through the Andes, so there are plenty of hills.  The ride was smooth, and we were going fast, probably over 20 mph at times.

Then came the bottom of the hill, and the incline.  What incline?  There weren’t supposed to be up-hill segments.

It wasn’t too terrible, and that was the worst of the day.

We came to some interesting geological formations:

Then we came to a small off-the-beaten-path village.  We checked out the church.

The wood columns are made of podocarpus wood.  This is the only indigenous conifer in Ecuador, and they are almost all gone.  Horland told us that his grandfather had told stories of the men going up to cut the trees years ago.  They brought along bulls to pull the tree trunks down the mountains.

We then went to a bakery/cafe across from the town square for fresh bread and coffee (grown, dried, roasted, ground, brewed there).

Sue went to find the baño.  On here way, she found a cock-fighting pit:

It is still legal in the south of Ecuador, and people come from Columbia and Peru for the fights.  Horland told us that thousands of dollars are won and lost betting.  It’s a big deal here.

We proceeded on a dirt road, which turns out to be the old highway to Peru.  As we progressed to lower altitudes, sugar cane fields appeared.  It seems that much of the cane in this area is used to make tequila.  In Ecuador, it seems, “tequila” is the term used for the liquor that is distilled from the sugar cane.  No agave is used, so it doesn’t taste anything like Mexican tequila.

We stopped at the local distillery –

Specific gravity reads almost 85% alcohol

By this time it was raining and we were all soaked.  We passed through beautiful countryside.

Highly invasive plant called “South African”

We finished with a fast ride down the hill into Vilcabamba.  Our clothes were dry by the time we got back.  Turns out the guy Horland had rented the bikes from is a bit of an artist, using old bicycle parts to make furniture and sculptures.  Here is a chandelier.

Chandelier made from bicycle chains